14 Best Online Prompt Engineering Courses [Free & Paid] with Certificates
10 minutes
What is Prompt Engineering?
Prompt engineering is the art and science of crafting effective queries for chatbots or large language models (LLMs) to get the best results from Generative AI. In a recent discussion, we explored why prompt engineering remains relevant, even with the rise of more advanced models.
We can't emphasise enough that there is no magic pillar for writing prompts like people would think. Prompt engineering is an iterative process of refining the prompt based on the prompt engineering research, a field of study that focuses on researching and finding new Generative AI (GenAI) prompting techniques.
Why is It Important to Learn Prompt Engineering?
The field of prompt engineering is rapidly evolving, with dozens of research papers being published every month. That’s why it's essential to start with the basics and build a strong foundation before diving into more advanced prompting techniques. This knowledge will enable you to quickly understand and apply new techniques as they emerge.
To help you get started, we’ve curated a list of 14 prompt engineering courses. Here’s a table summarizing them:
Free Courses
1. ChatGPT for Everyone by OpenAI and Learn Prompting
- Level: Beginner
- Instructors: Sander Schulhoff (Founder & CEO at Learn Prompting), Shyamal Anadkat (Applied AI at OpenAI)
- Duration: 1 hour
- Free/Paid: Free
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: ChatGPT for Everyone
This course introduces you to the fundamentals of ChatGPT and generative AI. It covers how ChatGPT works, its applications, and techniques for effective prompt writing. It also addresses ethical considerations and provides practical strategies for enhancing productivity, writing, and content creation using ChatGPT.
Topics covered:
- Introduction to ChatGPT and its workings
- ChatGPT use cases (personal assistant, writing, content creation)
- Techniques for crafting effective prompts
- Understanding prompt structure and role assignment
- Tips for optimal prompt writing
- Ethics, AI safety, and limitations of ChatGPT
- Case studies demonstrating real-world applications
2. Prompt Engineering for Everyone by IBM
- Level: Beginner
- Instructor: Antonio Cangiano, Engineering Manager and AI Specialist at IBM
- Duration: 5 hours
- Free/Paid: Free
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This course combines notes, audio recordings, and hands-on labs to equip you with techniques for crafting prompts. You'll explore different prompting approaches, use tools like Watsonx Prompt Lab, and complete an optional final project to solidify your learning.
Topics covered:
- Introduction to Prompt Engineering: Understanding the concept and its importance
- Getting Started: Basics of GPT-based AI tools and prompting approaches like Persona and Interview Patterns
- Advanced Techniques: Chain-of-Thought and Tree-of-Thought approaches, controlling verbosity, using Watsonx Prompt Lab
- Final Project (Optional): Applying your knowledge in a practical project
3. Free Prompt Engineering Course by Simplilearn
- Level: Beginner
- Duration: 1 hour
- Free/Paid: Free
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
From this course, you'll learn about the basics of AI and NLP, understand the concept and applications of prompt engineering, explore different types of prompts, and learn how to create effective prompts. The course includes practical examples to illustrate the concepts.
Topics covered:
- AI and NLP Basics: Understanding the history and applications of AI and NLP
- Prompt Engineering Basics: Concept, importance, and applications in conversational AI systems
- Prompt Analysis and Optimization: Analyzing and optimizing prompts for better results
- Contextualization and Personalization: Making prompts more relevant and effective through contextualization and personalization
Paid Courses
4. Introduction to Prompt Engineering by Learn Prompting
- Level: Beginner
- Instructor: Sander Schulhoff, Founder & CEO at Learn Prompting
- Duration: 1 week
- Free/Paid: Free trial, then $39/month with access to all paid courses
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Introduction to Prompt Engineering
This focuses on how to write, review, and optimize prompts for AI models like ChatGPT. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to pick up the basics of prompt engineering and use AI to work smarter as a personal assistant. There are quizzes and practical exercises to help you practice and learn as you go!
Topics covered:
- Introduction to prompt engineering and its importance
- Identifying characteristics of effective prompts and optimizing outputs
- Deep dive into how LLMs work, including token management
- Techniques for improving AI reasoning and solving complex problems
- Applying prompt engineering to address complex issues with AI
5. Prompt Engineering by Arizona State University
- Level: Beginner
- Instructor: Andrew Maynard
- Duration: 2 hours
- Free/Paid: $49
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This course emphasizes clear and creative language usage over traditional engineering skills and helps you master the art of using ChatGPT and Large Language Models (LLMs).
Topics covered:
- Prompt Evaluation and Creation: Assessing and crafting effective prompts to maximize ChatGPT's potential
- Prompt Templates and Structures: Exploring various templates and structures to achieve different outcomes
- Prompt Design for Tasks: Designing prompts tailored for specific tasks and applications
6. Learn ChatGPT by DataCamp
- Level: Beginner
- Instructor: James Chapman
- Duration: 1 hour
- Free/Paid: First module is free; $29/month
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
From this course, you'll learn how to interact with ChatGPT effectively, write prompts that generate high-quality content, and explore common business use cases for this powerful AI tool. By completing this course, you'll gain confidence in using ChatGPT in various situations and improve your efficiency in multiple tasks.
Topics covered:
- Interacting with ChatGPT: Understanding capabilities and limitations, writing effective prompts
- Adopting ChatGPT: Exploring business use cases, evaluating task suitability, legal and ethical considerations
- The Future of Generative AI: Key factors shaping the future of generative AI models like ChatGPT
7. Crash Course in Generative AI: Stable Diffusion, DALL·E & Midjourney by PromptHero
- Level: Beginner
- Duration: 1 hour
- Free/Paid: $99
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This course guided you from zero knowledge to advanced expertise in AI image generation. It covers fundamental concepts of generative AI, focusing on prompt engineering techniques, tools, and post-processing methods to generate unique, professional-looking images. You'll learn to use AI models like Stable Diffusion and fine-tune them for specific outcomes.
Topics covered:
- Introduction to AI basics and image generation models
- Differences between various AI image generation models
- Selecting the right model based on desired output
- Overview of Stable Diffusion and its impact on democratizing AI
- Setting up Stable Diffusion locally and in the cloud
- Essential prompt engineering techniques and tools
- Advanced techniques like model fine-tuning, Dreambooth, Textual Inversion
- Legal, ethical, and copyright concerns around AI-generated images
- Additional resources and a cheatsheet for quick reference
8. Essentials of Prompt Engineering by AWS
- Level: Beginner
- Duration: 1 hour
- Free/Paid: Free trial, $49/month
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This short, 1-hour course by Amazon Web Services introduces you to the foundational concepts of prompt engineering. It focuses on crafting, refining, and optimizing prompts for various applications, including techniques like zero-shot, few-shot, and chain-of-thought prompting.
Topics covered:
- Crafting and optimizing effective prompts
- Techniques: Zero-shot, few-shot, chain-of-thought prompting
- Understanding potential risks in prompt engineering
- Hands-on assignment to apply learned concepts
9. AI Prompt Engineering for Beginners by DavidsonX on edX
- Level: Beginner
- Duration: 1 week (1–3 hours per week)
- Free/Paid: Free with limited access, $39 for certificate
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This course highlights the versatile applications of ChatGPT, ranging from communication to basic coding and prompt engineering. It covers prompt design, the fundamentals of AI technology, intermediate development techniques, and building custom GPTs using the ChatGPT Builder.
Topics covered:
- Generating AI-produced first drafts for content creation
- Using AI to refine drafts, improving tone and clarity
- Leveraging AI for daily planning and productivity tasks
- Crafting descriptive prompts with clear context for effective responses
10. ChatGPT Complete Course - Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT on Udemy
- Level: Beginner
- Instructors: Mike Wheeler and Evan Wheeler
- Duration: 6 hours
- Free/Paid: $69.99
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This course focuses on using ChatGPT for various applications, from communication to basic coding and prompt engineering. You'll explore prompt design, AI technology, intermediate development techniques, and creating custom GPTs using the ChatGPT Builder.
Topics covered:
- Introduction to ChatGPT and effective communication techniques
- Using ChatGPT for career advancement (resume and LinkedIn improvements)
- Basic coding with ChatGPT (web development, debugging)
- Prompt engineering techniques (Zero-shot, Chain-of-Thought prompts)
- ChatGPT for data management, visualization, sentiment analysis
- Advanced development techniques (algorithm creation, Visual Studio Code integration)
- Custom GPT creation and publishing to the GPT Store
- Regular updates covering evolving features and plugins
11. Advanced Prompt Engineering by Learn Prompting
- Level: Intermediate/Advanced
- Instructor: Sander Schulhoff, Founder & CEO at Learn Prompting
- Duration: 1 week
- Free/Paid: Free trial, then $39/month with access to all paid courses
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Advanced Prompt Engineering
Designed for those aiming to create advanced and efficient prompts for sophisticated AI applications, this course delves into advanced prompt engineering techniques such as in-context learning, chain-of-thought prompting, and problem decomposition. It provides the tools to enhance the performance of AI models like ChatGPT in tackling complex, high-level tasks.
Topics covered:
- In-Context Learning: Basics of few-shot prompting, performance factors
- Thought Generation Prompting: Techniques for multi-step reasoning (CoT, ThoT, CCoT)
- Problem Decomposition Prompting: Breaking down complex problems (LtM, PaS, PoTh)
- Self-Criticism and Evaluation Prompting: Enhancing output quality (SE, SR, COVE)
- Advanced Techniques: Refining prompt strategies (S2A, RaR, RE2)
12. Prompt Engineering Specialization by Vanderbilt University on Coursera
- Level: Beginner/Intermediate
- Instructor: Dr. Jules White
- Duration: 1 month (10 hours per week)
- Free/Paid: Free trial, $49/month
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This specialization is designed to help you master the use of generative AI to enhance operational engineering skills. You will learn how to leverage generative AI for automation, boosting productivity, and augmenting intelligence.
Topics covered:
- Course 1: Composing Queries for ChatGPT (18 hours)
- Course 2: ChatGPT Advanced Data Analysis (10 hours)
- Course 3: Trusted Generative AI (8 hours)
- Skills acquired: Generative AI, ChatGPT, Query Writing, AI-driven data analysis
- Hands-on projects: Social media post generation, PowerPoint creation from Excel data, information extraction from PDFs
- Certification from Vanderbilt University to enhance your professional profile
13. The Complete Prompt Engineering for AI Bootcamp on Udemy
- Level: Intermediate (Python coding required)
- Instructor: Mike Taylor and James Phoenix, authors of "Prompt Engineering for Generative AI" book
- Duration: 19 hours
- Free/Paid: $119.99
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This intermediate-level course is designed for those with Python coding skills who want to advance their AI expertise. It focuses on applying AI tools like GPT-4, Stable Diffusion, and GitHub Copilot in real-world projects. You'll learn to develop and optimize prompts, manage production AI models, and implement advanced text and image generation techniques. With over 15 hands-on projects, you'll gain practical experience in scaling AI systems and exploring cutting-edge tools like LangChain and ChatGPT.
Topics covered:
- Introduction to the "Five Principles of Prompting"
- Understanding major AI models (GPT-4, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion)
- Real-world AI text and image generation projects
- Advanced prompt engineering techniques (Chain of Thought, Recursive Re-prompting)
- Deep dives into AI tools like LangChain, GitHub Copilot, DALL·E 3
- Coding-focused techniques for AI deployment and integrations
- Advanced AI techniques like Dreambooth, ControlNet, Textual Inversion
- Legal, ethical, and scaling considerations in AI production
14. Prompt Engineering and Advanced ChatGPT on edX
- Level: Intermediate/Advanced
- Instructor: Miguel Amigot, CTO at ibleducation.com
- Duration: 1 week (1–2 hours per week)
- Free/Paid: Free with limited access, $40 for certificate
- Certificate: Yes
- Visit Course: Visit website
This intermediate-level course teaches advanced techniques for using ChatGPT. Over one week, you'll explore effective prompting methods and develop advanced chatbot applications. It covers multiple industries such as healthcare, finance, education, and customer service, and addresses ChatGPT's limitations and how to create more robust applications.
Topics covered:
- Advanced prompting techniques for accurate and engaging responses
- Applications of ChatGPT across various industries
- Integration with NLP, ML, and other tools for advanced chatbot development
- Understanding and mitigating ChatGPT's limitations
- Building intelligent chatbots for improved customer experiences
Conclusion
We hope this list will be a helpful resource for you!
Taking online courses is an excellent way to sharpen your prompting skills. But if you're still unsure about diving into this field, we recommend starting with a free course or exploring our comprehensive Prompt Engineering Guide, which you can access anytime you have questions. We regularly update it with the latest techniques and models based on cutting-edge research.
Happy learning!
Valeriia Kuka
Valeriia Kuka, Head of Content at Learn Prompting, is passionate about making AI and ML accessible. Valeriia previously grew a 60K+ follower AI-focused social media account, earning reposts from Stanford NLP, Amazon Research, Hugging Face, and AI researchers. She has also worked with AI/ML newsletters and global communities with 100K+ members and authored clear and concise explainers and historical articles.